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Larry Watson Painted Fords

LARRY WATSON painted FORDS

In his long career Larry Watson has painted numerous Ford based cars. In this article we show you a selection of the Fords he has painted and saved the photos. From the Larry Watson Personal Collection.

This article shows a selection of photos of Fords painted by Larry Watson. All of these photos come from the Larry Watson Personal Photo Collection. More on Larry’s personal collection can be found in the Larry Watson section on the CCC-Site. Or on the Custom Car Photo Archive. Special thanks to Roger O’Dell for scanning this amazing material and sharing them with us on the Custom Car Chronicle.

The first flame paint jobs Larry did was on Buzzy’s 1950 Ford sedan. Maroon crab-clam style flames in maroon with yellow tips over an off-white base. (Larry only added the flames to the already painted car and did the work at his parents drive way, before he had a shop to work from.)

1940 Ford Pickup owned by Clyde Castleberry from Norwalk, California had Larry Watson paint some really unique and good looking scallops in deep purple over a soft yellow base. The scallops where outlined in white striping, this snapshot was taken late in the day when the sun was setting at the Larry’s Rosecrans Blvd. Shop.

Larry painted this 1949 Ford Sedan peach Pearl with a band of red webbing created with a veiling gun. Mildly customized with shortened side trim at the back, some trim removal and a California rake with thin white wall tired and chrome wheels. with baby moons.

Unidentified 1950 FordCoupe done in blue with outline in silver and white striping. Unique look on a Shoebox Ford. Sadly there is only this single photo of it in Larry’s Collection. I would have loved to take a better look at it.

Around 1957 Larry Watson added some silver and lavender scallops to Ray Moore/Pete Angress 1952 Ford. The scallops on the hood and trunk where free style, with nice round curves, similar to what Larry had done to his own Chevy.

In 1958 Larry completely redid the Ray Moore/Pete Angress 1952 one more time. Larry painted the car in a bright warm gold and masked off panels to highlight the body contours. He then added a deep candy burgundy and outlined everything in white.

Very clean and simple 1953 Ford Convertible was painted by Larry in one of his trademark outline paneled paint jobs. This time in candy red over gold striped with white. The car had been mildly customized with de-chromed and shaved body. Custom hubcaps and an aftermarket tube grille.

Simple but effective scallops added by Larry to hide the removed trunk handle.

Jerry Koller’s 1955 Ford was scalloped in candy green over a medium green body by Larry.

Larry Quatrone 1955 Ford Crown Victoria was restyled by Ed Schelhaas and painted a wonderful candy root beer with a pearl lime green top by Larry Watson at his Rosecrans Blvd shop in Bellflower Ca. (More on Larry’s Ford can be seen in the full CCC-Article on this car.)

Another 55 Ford Crown Victory was painted Pearl Pink with Candy Fuchsia over a mildly de-chromed but otherwise stock body. 1959 Dodge hubcaps, lake pipes, spotlights, and a nice slight forward rake make this a very nice cruiser for the late 1950’s, early 1960’s. Sadly we have not been able to find an owners name for this custom so far. (More on this Ford can be seen here.)

Larry Watson photo of Don Loster’s 1959 Ford Galaxy taken around 1964. The car had some nice body work done by the Martinez Brothers which included new front and rear pans. deeply tunneled custom taillights removal of most of the chrome, smoothed body and an integrated lake pipe cover to the lower rocker panels. Don Loster had his own business in hydraulics so he put his own hydraulic system on his car to get it low to the ground. The interior on Don’s Ford was done by Joe Perez in gray leatherette and white “button tufted” fabric. Larry Watson first painted Don’s Ford in a candy Fuchsia over a Platinum Pearl underbase. The top was done in silver with chrome tape on the c -pillars. Finishing touches are the Buick Skylark wire wheels and General Dual 90’s white wall tires. These tires came with three thin white lines, the middle stripe was blacked out to give it a unique two-stripe treatment.

Nice mild Customized 1959 Ford at the Bill DeCarr/Watson Artesia blvd shop for owner mr Holhfos. The car is painted a wonderful dark Candy blue on the main body and a very light blue/silver pearl on the top. Some badges where removed and it looks to have a full custom interior. The car has anice California rake added to it which was the big rage in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.

A really great early evening photo of a beautifully done 1960 Ford Starliner Custom. Mike Perello had Larry Watson do the Pearl Abalone Gold with a Candy Root Beer on the top. The stance on this car is really working well for it making it look like its going fast standing still all this was done using hydraulics on the front. The perfect combination of thin-line white walls and chrome reverse rims.

Another 1960 Ford was painted candy green with a lime green top by Larry.

Unidentified 1961 Ford done in a pearl warm roze color.

1961 Ford in an off white pearl with the body highlights fogged in with candy pink.

Candy teal and a perfect stance look fantastic on this 1961 Ford.

Front shot of this Candy Teal painted 1961 Ford shows it uses a modified 1960 Mercury grille, and it looks fantastic. The body work and grille installment was done by Bill DeCarr in his Artesia Blvd shop.

Candy grape painted 1962 Ford convertible.

Jim Boyd’s 1963 Ford was painted by Larry Watson in candy fuchsia-red, after the body had been smoothed and a studebaker pan was added to the front, below the bumper. It also had Buick wire wheels and hydraulic suspension on the front, and later added to the rear as well.

Ford Fairlane painted with silver and black with cobweb and veiling effects.

1966 Ford Galaxie with a candy over pearl burnt orange paint-job. Simple but very effective.

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About the Author

Rik Hoving

Rik is the CCC editor in chief. As a custom car historian he is researching custom car history for many years. In 2004 he started the Custom Car Photo Archive that has become a place of joy for many custom car enthousiasts. Here at CCC Rik will bring you inspiring articles on the history of custom cars and builders. Like a true photo detective he will show us what's going on in all those amazing photos. He will write stories about everything you want to know in the realm of customizing. In daily life Rik is a Graphic Designer. He is married to the CCC webmaster and the father of a 10 year old son (they are both very happy with his excellent cooking skills)

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4 Comments

I am really glad that Larry Watson photographed so many of the great looking cars that he had painted and/or scalloped. The ’52 Ford owned by Ray Moore and Pete Angress looked outstanding in candy burgundy with gold scalloping!

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